Erzebet, or Elizabeth, Bathory was born August 7th, 1560 (HAPPY BIRTHDAY). While there’s no proof that she actually bathed in the blood of virgins, as those rumors weren’t circulated until after her death, she definitely murdered a whole crapton of young women. There are disagreements as to how many, however; though the official body count seems to be 80, one serving girl claimed that Bathory murdered up to 650. The Countess managed to escape trial due to the shame it would bring to her very influential family, but she was nevertheless imprisoned and sealed up in a castle in Hungary. (I took most of this from Wikipedia.)

Elizabeth Bathory is also one of the patron saints of heavy metal, as her story is beset with imagery of bathing in blood, eternal youth, vampirism, possible links to the Devil, you know, pretty much everything you could want in a gothic sensational tale. So here’s a playlist I threw together of a bunch of songs relating to Countess Bathory, either directly or through blood-bathing references, name-dropping, or other indirect means.

Tormentor – Elizabeth Bathory

[Let’s start this off with a band from the Countess’ native Hungary, shall we?]

Sunn O))) – Bathory Erzebet

Ghost – Elizabeth

Electric Wizard – Torquemada 71

[This one is more about Torquemada, of course, but the Countess does get name-dropped.]Venom – Countess Bathory

Evile – Bathe in Blood

[Some more general blood-bathing and murder.]

Candlemass – The Bleeding Baroness

X-Japan – Rose of Pain

[I swear one of these days I’m going to do a post entirely about X-Japan and how amazing they are. I had forgotten all about this song, and it’s great, just like everything else this band ever did.]

Bathory – Woman of Dark Desires

[No playlist for Elizabeth Bathory is complete without Bathory, of course.]

Cradle of Filth – Cruelty and the Beast

[…And then there was that time when Cradle of Filth made an entire album about her.]

***

I’ll be back soon with a review of Ghost and Macabre, and a big ol’ post about how much I love Shining, since they’ve been around for 20 years now and I get to see them in a couple of weeks.

For my first post of 2013, I figured I would write a review of Hellbent for Cooking: The Heavy Metal Cookbook, which I got in the mail yesterday as a late Christmas present. The book was compiled by Annick “Morbid Chef” Giroux (also known as “Sat-Annick” of the Canadian doom metal band Cauchemar), who began soliciting recipes from bands all over the world in an attempt to create an international cookbook with the additional goal of proving that not all metal heads subsist on pizza and Bachelor Chow. She also attempted to include bands that were less known but none the less deserving, like Sir Lord Baltimore, who allegedly invented heavy metal but never got the props for it, and Grimorium Verum, Ecuador’s first black metal band.

With 101 recipes, this cookbook is quite the compendium. The cover claims that they are “basic” recipes too, which seems to be true- the ones that I have looked over closely seem mostly straightforward and pretty simple to make. Of course, there are some recipes for more experienced cooks in it as well; L’Impero Delle Ombre’s Focaccia Pugliese recipe, while completely awesome looking, does call for you to make your own dough. However, some of them are a simple as King Ov Hell’s Shellfish Crossfire, which is pretty much stir-fried prawns.

What 101 recipes looks like.

The recipes themselves are very nicely laid out over two pages with the name of the recipe, the band that submitted it, and which country they come from at the top of the first page. Ingredients, cook-time and portions are all listed along the left hand side with instructions in the middle of the page. Giroux also adds her own notes on most all of the recipes, with comments on how to substitute for less common ingredients as well as slight alterations that can be made to the dish. The right page contains a large, colorful photo of the finished product as well as a short bio about the band that contributed the recipe underneath, which is nice since there was a concentrated effort on Giroux’ part to make sure some lesser known bands got in the book.

Lots of yummy looking lamb dishes!

It’s also a very thorough cookbook, containing appetizers, beef, poultry, lamb, pork, vegetarian dishes, desserts, and even a few cocktails. It also contains a short list of cooking supplies at the beginning of the book that tells you what pots and pans and cooking utensils you will need (“weapons of mass nutrition”) as well as some tips from Giroux about food preparation, like how to chop hot peppers carefully or how to freeze food. The table of contents is very user friendly, and the back of the book contains an index of the bands too, in case you remembered the band but not the submission. Very accessible and helpful, then, for someone like myself who is just learning how to cook.

Table of Contents. There’s quite a bit in here, and it’s easy to navigate, unlike any of the other black metal books I own

The recipes themselves for the most part look absolutely delicious. There are a crapton of yummy-looking lamb dishes in here, some awesome looking deserts, and some great looking pastas. There is also Funerot’s Pizza Cake, which… sounds like something a thrash band would devise. Thin Lizzy submitted a delicious looking jambalaya (I absolutely LOVE Cajun food), Tankard’s Beer Pizza Crust made it in as well, and Mayhem submitted the national dish of Norway, Fårikål (Hellhammer’s recipe, thank the gods). And of course, Slayer Mag favorites Sadistik Exekution’s Black Metal Berry Pie, which looks absolutely phenomenal.

It also contains Pizza Cake.

Black Metal Berry Pie.

All and all, Hellbent for Cooking seems like a great little starter cookbook as well as a fun fan object for metalheads. I’m hoping to make something from it this weekend- I have a party to go to, and I’m thinking some of the vegetarian options or the appetizers will be really good to make. I’ll also update on here if I make anything from it, just like I did when I cooked some of Vegan Black Metal Chef’s stuff, to give you all a heads up (I still can’t find any truffle oil).

One of my favorite pictures. There’s also a lot of humor in here. Yes, my blanket has cats on it